Fig. 1. Installing Fotomoto exhibit at Orange Project.
FotomotoPH is a photography collective that organizes the largest traveling exhibition of Philippine photography to date. The group’s objective is to promote Philippine photography as a manifestation of our shared experience as a nation, including diversity in perspectives from different geographies, socio-economic status, genders and ages. Through exhibitions and a programming of educational activities, FotomotoPH aims to foster conversations about photography's role in our culture and demonstrate ways in which the photographic medium can expresses our complex identities.
When Fotomoto launched in 2021, at the height of the pandemic, I was not yet involved and was unable to visit the opening events. However, their large media presence drew my attention enough to see some of the shows. Among the multiple venues where the photographs were displayed, I chose the largest one located within a trendy Makati district.
Upon my arrival at the venue, its lights and air-conditioning were off, which I thought was sad, considering it was the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. Part of the reason could be that the venue closed during the pandemic. It was Fotomoto’s goal then to mount shows in shuttered bars and restaurants to jumpstart and revitalize their businesses. Nonetheless, with an ongoing exhibit that could bring in sales, utilities should be functioning. I asked the staff to switch on the lights.
To my surprise, the photographs were mounted on Sintra boards and adhered to the walls only with sticky tack; hence some of them had fallen to the floor. The staff had not been checking on the exhibit to make sure it was constantly presentable to guests, even though the group of exhibiting photographers were some of the most respected in the industry. That was the first time it dawned upon me that photography as art was given little importance in the Philippines.
Shortly afterwards, the Fotomoto founders invited me to join their team. While I had rarely encountered photography in my curatorial practice, I wanted to help and was willing to learn along the way. My initial task was to make a condition assessment of all the photographs that had been returned by the venues at the end of the first exhibition. The next goal was to send a good selection of images to Bacolod, the the first leg of the traveling exhibition.
Fig. 2. Installing Fotomoto exhibit at Orange Project.
To my dismay, many of the prints were returned in very poor condition. Some had dents from dropping off the walls; obviously the sticky tack method was not the most ideal. Other prints were clearly mishandled; hand marks, fingerprints, scratches were all over them, not only on the borders but sometimes in the middle of the prints themselves. It was heartbreaking for me to see. After all, the word “curator”, comes from the Latin word curare, meaning to care for. Because the photographs were displayed in restaurants, bars and other places that are not galleries, the venue staff and their visitors were probably unaware of the proper respect and the kind of handling artworks required. Many had to be reprinted for the Bacolod show.
I oversaw the installation of some 250 photographs at the spacious Orange Project in the Bacolod Art District. All the photographs were displayed together in one space. Despite using both sticky tack and double-sided tape, the prints kept falling off after a few days. Our Bacolod art handlers decided to further secure them with tiny nails. I began thinking about other affordable methods of printing and displaying a large exhibition of photographs, if this format of organizing Fotomoto should continue. Fotomoto is currently the largest traveling exhibition of contemporary Philippine photography that is sourced from photographers throughout the archipelago and the diaspora. Making the platform sustainable is one of its biggest challenges.
A few months later, while in New York, I visited Wolfgang Tillman’s major retrospective at the MoMA. I noticed that many of his prints, even the large-scale ones, were unframed and secured to the wall using paper clips. I proposed this method to the Fotomoto founders, and we decided to adopt it. Not only did it solve the problem of falling prints, it also allowed us to save on the expense of mounting them onto Sintra boards. Their lighter weight made them cheaper to ship them around the Philippines. That was the display format we used for “Fotomoto22: Home” at the Parola: UP Fine Arts Gallery, Manila.
For “Fotomoto: Home,” I was involved with the juried selection. The open call yielded over 700 submissions, which the curatorial committee edited down to 200 photographs. In addition to the open call, Fotomoto also organized special exhibitions, featuring projects from invited photographers, including a yearly homage to a photographer who had passed away. In the end, the total number of photographs selected for “Fotomoto: Home” reached 350, representing over 100 photographers. Fotomoto founders come from different backgrounds in photography, encompassing art, photojournalism, commercial work, and the academe. Each juror has different criteria on what is a good photograph. The final selection encompasses a diverse range of photographic practices responding to the same theme.
Installing at the University of the Philippines Diliman had its own set of challenges. We needed to rent panel boards and lights, which was rather costly. A massive gallery like Orange Project already has built-in display walls and lights and does not require such expenses. UP also did not employ proper art handlers during the pandemic. We had to hire our own and were given only four days to mount 350 fragile, unframed prints. During the days we were installing, we were not allowed to use air-conditioning. Instead, we were offered to use the venue’s large overhead fans. However, wind from these fans would cause the prints to fly, so we had to keep them off and worked day and night in sweltering heat.
Philippine universities were reported to be among the last in the world to resume face to face classes, including our national university. When malls and most other venues had already relaxed their pandemic policies, the schools had not yet. We had difficulties with visitors booking their viewing appointments. On the bright side, we were able to roll out an extensive public program, which included talks, panel discussions, portfolio reviews, workshops, and photo project presentations. It was possibly the first time in the Philippines when so much discussion on photography was brought together in one event.
As an ambitious, pioneering project, problems are sure to arise. Sometimes there are disagreements among the founders, which are continually being resolved. At one point, we had to agree on our definition of photography, and released it with this statement:
“A photographic image, at minimum must involve the action of a light-sensitive medium as basis. This medium may be essentially chemical in nature (film, paper, plates and the like), or it may be electronic such as a camera sensor. This irreducible quality of light sensitivity thus mandates a governed exposure. The use or absence of a camera, lens, shutter, etc. is of no consequence. As long as the medium is exposed to light and reacts by creating an image (which may or may not need to be processed or rendered), we define that as a photograph.
The image may be post-processed, elements may be added or subtracted, and these elements may not involve a light-sensitive medium. The image may be manipulated, distorted, or otherwise transformed. However, if the basis was a photographic image, and that image is still the dominant visual element, then it remains a photograph. We feel compelled to draw a line between photography and other kinds of art, and we believe this to be the boundary. If there was no light-sensitive medium involved, then the image must be called something else, for example ‘digital art’ if it was created in a computer. This is no less valid, but it is simply not a photograph.”
In February 2023, we presented another small selection at Art Fair Philippines’ AFP Photo section. The art fair was held for only a few days, but this was where we had the greatest number of sales. Selling photographs is not the main objective of Fotomoto but is one of its considerations because our participating photographers surely would not mind generating some extra income. We could also use the profit to fund our public programs. Fotomoto has not been operating on grants. The founders are volunteers who are not paid salaries for their efforts. Instead, we seek sponsorship from paper and ink suppliers, hotels, an embassy, and an alcoholic drinks distributor, among others, to cover expenses.
“Fotomoto: Home” traveled to Bacolod in May 2023, its second trip to the region. In this iteration, instead of installing the entire exhibition at Orange Project, we only utilized the gallery’s first floor to display some of the selected photographs. Other photographs were exhibited at three other smaller galleries within the art district. By then, we had begun to realize that while it looked magnificent at first glance, presenting so many prints could be overwhelming to the viewer. The audience could no longer appreciate each image due to visual overload or visual fatigue.
Moving forward, the founders of Fotomoto have much to think about. Is this current methodology a truly effective way to instill visual literacy when it is impossible to write about 350 images? How can we encourage more writers to write about photography in the Philippines? How can we reorganize our structure to be eligible for grants? How can we contribute to the history of Philippine photography? How can we evolve in a direction that is best for our society?
August 2023
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